qualcomm puts its chance at reserve status this year at zero. and under pressure policy makers meet with inflation coming in for a low target. we'll hear exclusively from india's biggest bank. also coming up this hour prime cuts. how japan's changing tastes are opening new export markets and satisfying sushi lovers further afield. all that and more in this monday edition of "asia edge." >> it is a fairly quiet day here. industrial company profits are down 8.8%. that is the biggest slump in four years. the shanghai composite currently down by 0.7, a two-week low. we're also seeing a big fall coming through in singapore. the benchmark times index down

and it dropped to the lowest evel since june, 2012. down 3.7%, also seeing weakness in jakarta, malaysia, and thailand that has just come online. japan at a lunch break at the moment. down by 1.1%, the nikkei 225. 168 out of the 225 stocks lifted on the nikkei. we are seeing good gains though coming through in australia th the s&p 500/ask 200 up by 0.8%. a slight pickup in new zealand. we're really watching currency markets. there has been the fillet to the safe haven yen. the malaysian currency has fallen again today with a big slump coming through currently holding a fourth spot 3975 against the green back and also under pressure as well. pretty flat at the moment holding the 26 spot. you can see the big slumps that

came through earlier in the day's trade. so, a lot going on for investors but of course those markets in hong kong, tywan, and korea also closed today. > thank you. the china exchange rate sent shock waves through the markets but there won't be many with doubts over whether the yuan has really been freed and what does it all mean for the eserve currency bid? everybody thought that valuation move was priming for the reserve status. >> right. so they came up with a new mechanism which by the way economists are still a bit fuzzy about what positive mechanism works because they floated the currency, gave the markets a bigger influence, bigger sway. and then they started stepping in here and there. they stepped into hong kong to

bring the spread back. in other words, there are still questions just how free really right now. and what's going to stop china from again stepping into the rkets if the exchange rate doesn't go their way? everyone afwrees it was a step in the right direction but the steps after that sort of left everyone with question marks in their heads. john greenwood said the exchange rate doesn't appear to be any more market driven today than it was. we don't understand or know what's really changed. the system is typical in china which is fairly opaque where they don't disclose or explain anything. we actually asked them and a few others what are the odds that china or the yuan actually wins before the year end and you lack how wide the percentages are here. the probabilities. and no one is in agreement

really. ubs said worth 70%. you go all the way down to nvesco as much as 45% and then nill simply because the current account is not fully open. when it comes to usage, just how much of the world economy uses the currency, a sort of sub category to that, if you look at the amount of bonds issued, the volume of underwriting has dropped substantially. from the peak in 2014 the appetite for yuan assets has come down substantially and a lot of theish yures need to offer higher rates to convince buyers to hold yuan assets. that is one of the by products or victims i should say of what happened here. just very quickly here, very good quote.

they're saying the likelihood the yuan will be included is still high but end of the day the reality is the decision making lies with the u.s. it is really much more political than economic as well here. >> but demand certainly as you said is a good barometer for what's happening in china. > right. if you look at today's industrial profits it adds to the concern investors have about china. >> it is. obviously to varying degrees. if you put all the sectors together, we are down 8.8% which i believe is the biggest drop in profits compared august this year to last year in about four years. not all the sectors are created equal. the biggest or the worst hit sectors. as you would expect are those with over capacity issues, sort

of old -- the coal, traditional industries. oil, natural gas. and of course a lot of the mining sectors as well. to end on a bright note where do you put your money if buying into profit growth? interestingly refineries are doing quite well. 50%. then water. veryone needs water. you have the electricity. telcos. >> old growth vs. new growth right? >> yeah. new engines of growth and old school, big, large, you know, iron smelters that pollute and no one is really buying metal now. they're exporting it. >> all right. thanks for that wrapup. appreciate it. let's talk about india now. the biggest lender is expecting a rate cut from the country's central bank in just a little over 24 hours. the state bank of india chairwoman predicts inflation to fall below the r.b.i.'s target by year's end allowing room to move.

she spoke exclusively with bloomberg in new york. >> we believe the inflation numbers will come up a little in the coming months but we still do expect to see the numbers coming at around 5% by the end of the year, which is really under shooting the target of 6%. why do we know this is going to happen? it is because we do have a lot of in house research that shows that there has been massive demand disruption as a result of which we have seen actually inflation coming down a lot. also given the fact that we are consuming nation, energy consuming and importing nation. it also affects all of these numbers as well. it is in fact seen right across

the country and especially in the rural areas the demand has gone down quite a bit. so we bleeve that inflation is definitely on the rebound and therefore there is a reason to look at lowering the rates. >> bloomberg analysts have taken a slightly divent interpretation which is that having said -- set this inflation target, the head of the central bank credibility is on the line to absolutely meet it and they don't believe he is going to make the move. is his credibility on the line to meet that target? >> i would think that it is started out learly as an inflation warrior. i think he would like to ensure inflation is put down once and for all. in a way he is correct in saying it is actually a tax on everybody and if you want to begin a virtual cycle of growth you need to comprehensively

defeat inflation, no doubt about that. however, we have to understand one thing about india. in india it is also a question of the fact that this is not ly a demand for this problem but also supply constraints. and supply constraints specifically need certain growth factors to come in in order to ensure that inflation being caused by a supply taken nt is actually away by improving the supply side of it. therefore obviously in india there are people who will say it is important to look at growth as well as inflation. of course again i think the central bank feels that while en flags not excluded is still a major threat. host: other stories making headlines australia's m 2 group surging by the most in almost a decade climbing close to 14%

right now after the company will be bought for $1.4 billion. e biggest telecommunications acquiring in two years in australia. china has approved a plan to boost economic growth in cities and provinces linked to coastal regions. the state council wants provincial governments to coordinate efforts to attract aggressive foreign investment and speed up infrastructure construction and strengthen environmental protection. the program covers bing, and northeastern provinces. the man in charge of japan's biggest ipo in recent memory says he is not worried about market volatility. e says the company's $11.5 billion public offings will pro- -- will proceed as planned. it is set to be japan's biggest

since 1998 and also the largest sale of the government entity since 1987. now to the great emissions debate. embattled volkswagen is on a deadline. germany says it has 10 days to come up with a plan. you're joining us with the latest on this global scandal. >> ongoing scandal. v.w. has until next week wednesday to bring forth a plan of if and when its vehicles will meet national emissions standards in germany. v.w. is saying they will have a plan in the coming days but the scandal of course has grown over the weekend. german media is reporting volkswagen was warned years ago about this device that it could ool emissions tests. there are reports that the alarm was landed in 2011 as

well. the scandal is snowballing across the worrell. 11 million cars affected globally. just in china v.w. says no vehicles there were involved in the scandal. still, almost 2,000 cars could be affected. in japan v.w. has already said it would reconsider plans to produce diesel cars all together which could be a boon for rivals. for example just now we're hearing from mercedes saying that they will promote diesel in japan despite the scandal going on with v.w. they are saying that they are able to double the rate of v.w. sales in japan to about 10% this year. >> which means volkswagen better be quickening up the pace of this cleanup. >> definitely. and they're trying to do that, concentrating on who knew what and when. they were discussing that for hours when they met on friday, the board there. a source telling us though that

documents showing from four ears ago the flag of the illegal device never evidently was sent upwards in the chain of command. so we'll see what happens with that. but the new c.e.o. of v.w. also former head of porsche is now saying that he'll parb through with a reorganization -- push through with a reorganization of the company to streamline decision making. host: well it looks like suzuki made an escape from v.w. just in time. >> at the right moment. so they uploaded all of their shares in v.w. that they had acquired when they were thinking of partnering up with v.w. back in 2009. they sold all of that to porsche and they're now gaining $300 million as a one-time gain this quarter. host: well, it's not a lot but at least today we're seeing a sell off from suzuki despite that. thank you so much for that. all right. coming up later on the show the

man who is trying to build a . w consumer capital coming up next investment advice as global stocks head for their worst quarter in years. china, japan, and europe. okay. more on that. ♪

>> checking some of the stories making headlines around the world now. thai police now say men they arrested months ago are responsible for the bangkok shrine bombing in august. a man is claimed to be the suspect in the yellow shirt seen slanting the backpack bomb. another man is accused of detonating the device. officers say the men have confessed and now face multiple murder charges. pleas say the attack was revenge for them breaking up a people smuggling operation.

indonesian authorities have arrested the thai captain of a ship on suspicion of illegal fishing and human trafficking. they say the ship was carrying # $2 million worth of frozen seafood stolen from indonesian waters. indonesia's fisheries minister says further investigations will be carried out into allegations the ship's crew were held as slaves. the vessel's thai owners deny any wrongdoing. the great cyclist lance armstrong has settled a 10-year dispute over bonuses he was paid during his tour de france career. he earned more than $10 million from dallas based promotions and sued them after they demanded repayment. armstrong was ordered to hand over $10 million penalty for lying under oath. details of the settlement have not been released but armstrong says he is pleased to put the matter behind him. well, figures this morning show chinese industrial profits fell

the latest sign the economic slowdown is deepening. our next guest says the bad economic news signals more stimulus is on the way and more opportunities for investors. let's bring in our guest, investment strategist at private capital limited. so in china's case bad news is good news? >> because things are stablizing. the bloomberg monetary conditions index actually has been improving for the past couple of months as have other monetary conditions and i bleave there will be a massive fiscal stimulus coming through shortly. in other words, within the next few weeks. monetary and physical. which now it's always important to remember that in china people are so willing to go and build roads and build bridges while they're not willing to do that in the west anymore. so i think there could be a massive fiscal stimulus and a monetary stimulus which already has been happening because real interest rates are falling. >> one could argue that

infrastructure needs are more prevalent in the west. china doesn't need more infrastructure, roads, railways, or trains. >> housing could do quite well. in other words if they put in more housing i think it would help alleviate a lot of the stablization problems they've got. i think that is a big issue. >> if you invest in housing in that deflate the prices housing costs? >> i think it would increase employment and has all sorts of multiplier effects of people beginning to work and say 60% of their money is generally spent. never forget consumption is about 70% of any g.d.p. exports are way over rated and consumption is way underrated. host: we are seeing that in industrial profits out of china today when it comes to the august outlook. it just really reveals that the

old growth industries like coal and oil, these continue to weigh down industrial profits. >> well, not only that it's also the low productivity because a lot of these are state owned enterprises. that of course then means you have very high unit labor costs. in other words, it may be cheap labor costs but if you then factor in very weak productivity then the unit labor cost is very high. so that, again, will be pushing down on the industrial profits. >> okay. when it comes to reform, though, in, s.o.e.'s there have , both lot of lip service saying that there needs to be targeted reforms but a lot of people are just waiting to see what happens. do you bleeve it? >> i don't. i think it is going to be a little bit like japan frankly because they're cracking down on corruption so heavily that he can't have it both ways. he can't do reforms and anticorruption at the same time. it is just not going to work

because they're all kind of in the same bed basically. host: are we going to get more clues from china in october? >> not necessarily. not specific ones that i would know of. i think -- host: ahead of the plenum >> i think you'll find a lot of the noise is about the stimulus beginning to be patched together. i think that will certainly happen. host: okay. where else do you like when it comes to sectors? >> i am very much in favor of the consumer cyclicals. if it's true that the chinese economy will start -- is beginning to stablize and will begin picking up a little bit i think actually you'll find the consumer cyclicals beginning to pick up a little bit there in china and also the utilities should do quite well just because they are very stable and if people want to go back into china that's the kind of thing they'd be looking at. they're also quite large and quite liquid. >> let's see what the fed is looking at. and talk more about the fed later on.

we'll leave it here for now but we'll get you back in about 20 minutes. all right. coming up next toshiba share holders meet this week in an atmosphere of accounting scandals. and heads are rolling at the top. details when "asia edge" returns. ♪

host: let's take a look at some big events we're following for you this week. will india's central bank cut interest rates for a fourth

time? we'll find out on tuesday when it releases its rate decision. economists surveyed by bloomberg are estimating a 25 basis point reduction while the governor has been under pressure to lower rates because of a drop in inflation and he has said further easing will depend on the strength of the monsoon. shareholders of troubled electronics giant toshiba meet in tokyo on wednesday. the investment has lost 40% of its value this year following the accounting scandal that forced the firm to restate six years of earnings. a panel is currently investigating whether former and current board members and executives failed in their duties. it's china's national day on thursday. celebrating the 66th anniversary of the founding of the people's republic on october 1, 1949. president pink will be back from his u.s. state visit and is expected to make a televised address. economists we surveyed are

predicting the c.p.i. rose 0.9% in september and the bank of korea's goal is between 2.5% to 3.5% but it's been missing its target for almost three years now. let's check in on trading in markets that are open here in the region. in sydney, the opera house, we are seeing gains and it is really banks leading the way today while miners and energy producers are leading the way down or lagging rather. but we are seeing gains 0.1% high inner australia. let's take a look forward to the afternoon business in tokyo where we are seeing a sell off in the morning session. of course we'll get the latest on japan's reopening after this very short break. stay with us. ♪

host: the top stories this hour china's industrial profits have dropped the most in at least four years adding to concerns the economic slowdown is deepening. china's ship building tumbles as much as 4% to lead the climb for industrial shares in zhang high. trading is very light ahead of the week-long holiday beginning thursday. hong kong is closed for the mid autumn festival today. and china's biggest exchange rate reforms in a decade may have done little to boost the yuan's chances of winning reserve currency status. several analysts we've spoken

to say the possibility of that happening this year has not changed. china's sixth largest lender the bank of communications actually put the yuan's chance of joining the basket this year at zero. india's biggest lender is expecting rate cuts from the country's central bank in a little over 24 hours. ate bank of india chairwoman predicts inflation will fall below the r.b.i.'s preferred level by year's end allowing it room to move. she told bloomberg television the bank sees the c.p.i. at 5% by december. under shooting the central bank 6% target. all right. let's get back to the markets nd we've got juliet standing by. tellcos in focus today. >> they certainly are. that sector in singapore down by almost 4%. the lowest level in three years.

look at this down by more than 4%. of course a major player in market cap on the benchmark index in singapore so a big impact. starhub also falling today. in australia interestingly the only market in the region where telco is actually doing quite well. the main performer there up by 0.6 of 1%. in japan actually trading without its dividend today so that is why it is falling. a thousand stocks trading without their dividend. 168 out of the 225 stocks on the nikkei 225 without their dividends. looking at some of the good players in japan though we are seeing sanko metal doing incredibly well the roofing company announcing its four-year profit forecast. looking at the big picture we've got china of course going on the lunch break. you mentioned the industrial profits number which is really weighing on the benchmark shanghai index down spoy 1%.

japan has come back out of its lunch break still in the red the. singapore one of the worst performers and jakarta also heavily sold off and rice markets in the region are weaker apart from the australian market and new zealand, australia being supported by some of the banks. hong kong, tywan, and korea all on public holiday. so very low volumes on the markets today. >> okay. thanks for that. host: well, china and the u.s. have announced an agreement to crack down on corporate hacking. they pledged to tackle the theft of trade secrets. president obama said he hasn't ruled out sanctions for violators. we have our beijing bureau chief joining us now. what will china to do to effectively enforce this agreement? >> well, that is the big question. i mean, you know, the conversation that president obama and president xi had in the united states was important

in one respect. china had not previously acknowledged that there was the widespread hacking of corporate interests in the u.s. so the espionage g said between governments is okay but china's government should not be hacking into u.s. corporations and then passing hose secrets on to chinese competitors. so the president of china acknowledging that they would work to form a dialogue in this ort of arena is in its own way progress. as president obama said actions speak louder than words so the u.s. will be anxiously awaiting to see what measures they put in place to stop this practice. host: it's true what they say and what they do. let's see if they match, right? china and the u.s., they have announced a number of agreements here.

curious if this will go some way to smoothing the relationship. tensions have been highlighted on this trip. >> president' xi's trip does serve many purposes. one is obviously image enhancement back home. the other is with the u.s. sort of smaggetting over some of those rough patches in the relationship. there have been a few agreaments here that definitely -- a few agreements that are definitely considered to be pretty important. the cyber security is one of those agreements. the other is climate change. president xi and president obama agree that china will announce a cap in trade program putting limits on carbon emissions. that in some ways will make president obama's job a little bit easier. he's been trying to put climate change action through the u.s. congress but congress's response has always been china is not interested in doing it so why should we? so this move by president xi gin ping is seen as a positive

step in curbing carbon emissions globally. host: okay. all right. know that president xi jinping is going to be addressing the u.n. general assembly a little later. what is he expected to say? >> up know, his big message on this trip and more broadly is that china has arrived on the world stage. so the u.s. has previously said we are a nation that has arrived and china is in the process of developing and making its presence known on the world stage. president xi jinping is looking to say this move is complete, that china is an international actor on par with the united states. obviously he is going to be saying that, you know, he wants the international community to accept chinese moves in the south china sea for example where they've been expanding reclamation. also in cyber security and climate change. so it is really about projecting china's power on the

world stage. host: all right. thanks for that. out of beijing for us today. the choking haze across parts of southeast asia has now forced malaysia to close schools. however, singapore says the air has cleared enough to allow its schools to reopen. smoke from fires in indonesia has blanketed the region for weeks prompting singapore to take legal action. let's get the very latest from our southeast asia correspondent. how is the air there today? >> you know what? it is business as usual today. the air in singapore is still considered unhealthy and that is expected to persist for sometime. it hit hazardous levels come friday. the current haze situation is the worst since 2013. malaysia as you indicated is also struggling with it. some schools surrounding kuala lum pure are shut. singapore has taken action against companies said to have

contributed to the forest fires. ive companies named. also asia pulp and paper. that company based in singapore. singapore wants to know what is being done to stop the fires. as you would expect, bilateral relations are strained. unhappiness especially after the vice president made this comment that indonesia's neighbors should be grateful for the good air quality most of the year that jakarta need not apologize for the crisis. now if you're wondering whether e move by singapore is significant, it is. it is the first time any action has been taken, companies identified, the start of a legal action. singapore said errant companies must know there is a price to be paid for damaging health and

environment and economy. as you recall, singapore adopted, or rather put into law last year the trans boundary haze pollution act. those guilty can be fined up to $100,000 a day, capped at $2 million in total. some experts say though that's not enough. they are calling for a stiffer fine, more policing, even reward for whistle blowers. >> all right. thank you so much for that. out of singapore for us. other stories we are following for you this morning, the battle for road position in asia is heating up with another cross border investment. apola has attracted more money in the latest fundraising round. the two companies have declined to release details of the investment. the tieup with disney will help

the company expand in china, it is said and also the slowdown in the biggest overseas market could actually boost demand. unolo has devoted an entire floor to products with disney in the flagship store and plans to open 100 stores a year in china. the key market for the retailer. disney will open its $5.5 billion shanghai theme park next year. china's slowdown continues to weigh on commercial rental prices in hong kong. the retailer color mix for instance will pay 40% less when it moves to russell street. once the world's most expensive shopping strip. a report says prices for prime space in hong kong are expected to drop 15% to 20% this year. and iran is gearing up to rejoin the international community with sanctions soon to be lifted if the nuclear eal with world powers gets a green light. our bloomberg reporter met one

iranian entrepreneur with big plans for iran after its ecades as a global pariah. >> for centuries this ancient city's architectural treasures have drawn travelers far and wide. and now it wants to become the onsumer capital of iran. 20 minutes out of town kids play at the biggest theme park in the middle east. it's part of the shopping mall unlike any other in the country. it boasts a university, museum, hotel, its own health care and eventually wants the financial district to rival dubai. the mind and the money behind the sprawling site is an iranian entrepreneur who says he's worth billions. what's your next value in dollars? >> in my mind, it is $3

billion. >> he says he put $500 million of his own money into this shopping mall. other came from investors. the costs of the project according to him is around $1 billion. >> iran is able to -- >> it is difficult for bloomberg to independently verify the cost of the shopping mall. by his own calculation he has invested at least a sixth of his overall wealth. why is it so special? what makes it different for iran? > first of all, it's a shopping mall in the middle of the change of our goal and we things inside of the shopping mall which can change the manner of the culture and bring back the old culture which belongs to a new

generation. >> the entire complex won't be finished until 2016. by which time u.s. retailers may be able to open up here. he is hoping that a particular u.s. tycoon will help him with the building of the hotel. an unlikely and to say the least controversial partner. >> does this have any rel asianship to the 2016 presidential elections in the united states? >> maybe. i don't know who is going to be president. >> so this shopping center is called make row star. it would be interesting to see whether he backs his colorful u.s. investor. for now, the city center shopping mall is a big hit with ranians. >> fascinating glimpse inside iran. that was on the billionaire backing iran's largest shopping

mall. coming up are investors really unsure about where the fed is headed or is there another explanation for the recent market turmoil? our group discussion coming up next. ♪

host: checking some of the stories making headlines around the world now, new clashes have broken out at jerusalem's most sensitive site. riot police said they were attacked by protesters throwing rocks and fireworks but said the situation was brought quickly under control. the flash point was the mosque. on the last day of the holiday. the mosque is the third holiest site in islam but the temple mount area is also seen as the most sacred place in judaism. process session parties have won a landmark vote in spain setting the scene for the country's richest region to reak away.

catalans' various independence groups have reached a majority in the assembly. madrid had been betting there was a silent majority who wanted to repain part of spain. a huge sinkhole in australia has swallowed an s.u.v. and two caravans. holiday makers on the beach north of brisbane were shaken away when the sand simply fell away. the hole now filled with water is 150 meters long by 50 meters wide. and up to three meters deep. around 140 people had to evacuate the camp site but there are no reports of injury. welcome back. guests. e are my what do you think? >> finally, yeah. one keeps on bringing about this i suspect so because if she is now saying as she said last monday it's a little bit of a jitter bug flip flop in my case that she doesn't really

know, she is doing a fabulous job and has a very difficult job ahead of her but the fact is that markets do react to what she says and she has to get use today that that she is dealing with a big market. >> are you calling her a nerd? >> yes, i think so, because she is extremely good on labor i believe and on labor economics and things of this nature which is fabulous but a nerd is also somebody who is kind of oblivous to the outside world and the effects of what they're having on the outside world and the markets are reacting very much to what she says. so i think she has to really be aware of those. it's a learning experience i suspect. >> she is pretty focused on what's happening outside. >> which is not good either. congress has given the fed a very clear domestic mandate. that doesn't mean, you know, with all of us being very international that the overseas doesn't count. it just means she has to really seriously focus on inflation, labor markets in the u.s. on her traditional strengths actually. why she is all of a sudden

pulling in things we don't normally look at when we look at fed policy such as the chinese stock market, what the i.m.f. is saying and what the world bank is saying. >> don't you have to look at that? ultimately we are a very intertwined global economy. nchingts you have to. >> what happens in china is undoubtedly going to end up impacting the u.s. in some way. >> absolutely. you have to look at it but it doesn't mean you refer to it in a public policy statement saying because the chinese stock markets are doing badly we don't think we should be doing stuff in the u.s. i think it should very much be that the policy statement itself should be much more of a domestic one because it's perhaps building up a little bit if that's what they feel. because the labor markets are tightening up a little bit. that's why we think --. >> she mentioned there could be some surprises that might change her mind. what do you think are some things that could shock her to really not -- and to delay? >> well, if on friday we have the unemployment report, the

payroll report, earnings reports, hourly earnings, if those things come out really, really weakly again, in other words very weak and stuff, then of course she will delay yet again. it is also important to remember it is not just her whole decision but the whole fmc. she is just the spokes person. >> you say buy u.s. stocks. do you mean buy u.s. against european and japanese stocks? >> no. japan for arly favor all the wrong reasons. the economic clock in japan is very much in excess -- they don't want to change. but you have this excess supply of money building and building which is not healthy but where is it supposed to go? it has to go into assets. i believe the assets it wants to go into are stocks. >> yes. no inflation. >> that is because of the excess of supply of goods in japan. you also have the stronger yen,

a safe haven currency, so you have imported deflation coming through. >> take out energy prices though and you have a little bit of inflation right, 0.8%. that's what the u.s. looks at when they have to the -- the preferred gauge of inflation. is it fair to say no inflation? on ell, you've got me another subject. i actually believe we have very strong inflation. it is just not being measured or captured by the numbers we're looking at. clearly in places like hong kong it is really strong. >> what about -- it seems like they would be more like, they're not even measuring anymore. more just targets. >> family, social welfare. >> three more arrows. >> yeah. no. i'm very leery. may only reason looking at japan that's why i suggest for wrong reasons is precisely because they will keep on

easing monetarilyy that money as to find a home somewhere. i think they're chasing el fwants a pop gun. >> let's see what that actually looks like. thank you for putting that image in our mind. >> thank you very much. >> thank you for joining us on this mid autumn festival day. all right. thanks, all. coming up next japan's changing tastes forcing the sushi industry to look further afield. we have a special report when "asia edge" returns. ♪

host: welcome back. you're watching "asia edge." the country that gave the world sushi now finds itself with an over supply of fish. demand for seafood in japan has

been falling over the past few years. more people choose to eat meat. that's really forcing fishermen to look to their neighbors now for new markets. >> making the perfect cut to deliver that delicate piece of sushi. looks easy but it's a culinary skill that japanese chefs take years to master and it all starts right here at the port with the right selection of fish. and this growing global competition although who has he best catch? exports for the industry still worth around $12 billion a year but number of fishermen has almost halved in 20 years. japanese seafood exports rose 30% in the first half of this year alone helped largely by a weakening yen. >> we have been trying to

export more fresh fish to japanese restaurants in asia. they have been on the rise globally so we expect the demand for fresh fish to grow rapidly. we've recently opened a restaurant in singapore where we serve our products that cater to the taste of locals. >> so off it goes from japan to singapore. this restaurant opened earlier this year in singapore's working district hoping to attract the working crowd with the variety of japanese fish from different prefectures. >> we import fish from tokyo's market twice a week. and also directly from various ports across japan. we provide not just popular fish like tuna salmon but also different kinds of fish only available at specific seasons, such as the rainbow trout. >> we try to explain to the customers the types of fish we provide and where they come from.

>> here in asia salmon remains the top choice, the sushi -- fish from norway tend to be the most popular. that's 8,000 kilometers away so japanese fish supplies are promoting proximity promising fish caught in the morning can be on plates across asia by the same afternoon. but for some customers, it doesn't quite matter where the fish is from. >> honestly can't taste the difference. not so discerning. but, yeah. the food is good, i'll be there. >> all that matters is the taste. bloomberg, hong kong. host: thank goodness lunch is in about five minutes. you can get more on that in all the day's top stories plus watch us live really wherever you are on the bloomberg app. it's as easy as that. download it to your mobile device. apple, android, windows, and all the rest. of course we are on social

media as well and if you use twitter it is even easier to stay in touch with us here on asia edge. i'm at angie tv lau. that's it from us here in asia. have a great rest of

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